


Midnight questions

by sarcasmismyweapon



Series: Learning Curve [16]
Category: Naruto
Genre: ANBU - Freeform, Adorable, Anbu Hatake Kakashi, Cute, Fluff, Friendship, Genin - Freeform, Iruka is annoyed, Kakashi is A Brat, Life lessons fic, Other, chunin exam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 18:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16224377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasmismyweapon/pseuds/sarcasmismyweapon
Summary: Iruka is up late fretting over some news he received only to be startled when Wolf suddenly appears in his apartment, raving about having the answers to a long forgotten question. Exhausted and not the least bit amused by the Anbu's presence and continued questions, Iruka has to put up with his favorite Anbu and the strange occurrence which lead to him coming to see him at such a late hour.





	Midnight questions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ninjazzz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninjazzz/gifts).



> Okay so this thing didn't exist, like wasn't even on my list of things to write. However, a lovely friend of mine told me it was her birthday and thus a story was born LOL. I cooked this thing up yesterday from a prompt she had given me like months ago, so I hope you're happy with the outcome. Also I wasn't kidding when I said I have a document just of prompts from you guys, it exists and this is proof XD.
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY NINJAZZZ!!!

 

Iruka let out a surprised scream when he turned around from making tea to find Wolf lurking. Glaring at the Anbu who was now laughing at him, the genin huffed. “That’s not funny.” Pushing past the Anbu on his way to the living room, the genin ignored the fact that he was being followed. Flopping down onto his couch, ever mindful of the hot liquid in his cup Iruka sent a scathing look towards the Anbu.

“Mah it wasn’t that bad.”

“You made me scream.” Iruka retorted angrily.

Kakashi shrugged. “Could have been worse.”

Iruka gave the Anbu a skeptical look.

“I could have made you drop your tea.” The Anbu pointed out with a wave towards the teen’s steaming cup.

Iruka glanced down at his teacup, he supposed that Wolf was right about that. Still it wasn’t funny, looking back up towards the teen Iruka muttered. “You still suck.”

Kakashi chuckled as he took up the opposite end of the couch from the pouting genin. “So tell me, how was training today? Chase any cats?”

Iruka glared. “No.” He replied in a petulant tone.

“Weed gardens?”

“No.”

“Fix fences?”

Iruka glared. “No.”

“Hmm...What else could there be? Ah I know, did you play messenger again?”

Iruka huffed right before taking a drink of his tea, choosing to ignore the Anbu for a moment and enjoy the simple pleasure that was a hot beverage. Kakashi raised a brow beneath his mask when he was ignored, the teen before him seemingly enraptured with his tea. “Did something happen?”

Iruka shook his head even as he set his tea aside. “No.”

“Thus far I’ve gotten a lot of no’s and not much else, that’s not very convincing.”

Iruka snorted. “You’re asking stupid questions.”

“Oh I am?”

Iruka nodded.

“And just what questions should I be asking?”

The genin shrugged. “What are you doing here?” Iruka changed the subject abruptly.

Kakashi sighed. “I’m hurt, I thought you liked my company.”

Iruka sent a scathing look at the Anbu. “It’s midnight.” The genin pointed out with a sharp jerk of his thumb pointed towards the window behind him.

Kakashi glanced past Iruka to see the darkness outside. “Hmm so it is, I suppose my sense of time is a bit off.”

“You think?” The dry response of the genin had Kakashi chuckling.

“Which begs the question what are you doing up?”

Iruka shrugged.

“Am I going to get another No?”

Iruka smirked. “Maybe.”

“Cheeky, so what’s up?”

Iruka shook his head. “You still haven’t answered my question. Why are you here at midnight?”

“Just got back from my mission.”

“Yeah and?”

“Wanted to share some pertinent information with you.”

Iruka rolled his eyes. “You can’t tell me anything...You said so before. Anbu stuff is secret.”

“True. Good thing this isn’t Anbu stuff.”

Iruka tilted his head. “It’s not?”

Kakashi shook his head. “Nope.”

Iruka looked skeptical of what the Anbu was saying, but waited to see what Wolf would do. Wolf was silent which ultimately meant that he wanted Iruka to ask questions. Sighing the genin muttered.  “It’s too late for this.”

“Is it? Why aren’t you in bed then?”

Iruka remained silent.

“Hmm seems we’re at an impasse.”

Iruka gave a small nod even as he leaned over to take up his cup of tea once more, taking another leisurely sip of tea while keeping Wolf in his sights. Kakashi tilted his head, observing the genin. By all appearances there didn’t seem to be anything physically wrong with Iruka, which meant this was either mental or emotional. Things Kakashi knew went hand in hand with the kid.

“So...What’d Mizuki do?”

Iruka coughed as he’d swallowed wrong upon hearing the Anbu’s question. “W-What?”

Kakashi smirked beneath his mask. “What did Mizuki do?”

Iruka scowled as he placed his cup down and proceeded to cough a few times to dislodge the liquid that had gone down his airpipe, wiping at the dampness of his shirt from his coughing fit. “He didn’t do anything, why are you asking that?”

Kakashi shrugged. “Normally if you’re upset it has to do with a failed mission, your team or Mizuki. You don’t fight with Kotetsu or Izumo.”

Iruka huffed. “So?”

“So, what is bothering you so much that you’re awake at this hour.”

“Would you have woken me up if I had been asleep?” Iruka challenged back.

The Anbu snorted. “No.”

“So then whatever you’re here for isn’t life or death.”

“No.” Kakashi agreed. “Well...Actually.” He hummed.

Iruka gave him a perplexed look. “What does that mean?”

“It’s a bit complicated, we’ll get to that. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Iruka shook his head, he really wanted to avoid this entire thing. He hadn’t counted on Wolf dropping by at this god awful hour. The Anbu was normally really good about when he should and shouldn’t be dropping by. Iruka’s gaze settled to the side table where he’d sat his cup of steaming tea, the dark liquid was entrancing and for a brief moment Iruka let his thoughts drift.

“You’re sure it wasn’t Mizuki?”

Iruka smirked as he craned his head back around towards his Anbu. “I’m sure. You can’t blame him for everything you know.” 

“Pretty sure I can, but I’m not opposed to being wrong when I implicate him for something he didn’t do. Unfortunately I’m normally right when it comes to him.”

“That’s mean.”

“I know.”

Iruka smiled back at his Anbu. “You haven’t forgiven him.”

“Hmm...I’d say not.” Kakashi shook his head. “Was I supposed to?”

The genin chuckled. “That’s mean.” His attempts to be firm with the older man obviously fell flat when the Anbu responded.

“I’m okay with that.” Kakashi shrugged. “ He hasn’t earned my respect, I have nothing to apologize for.”

Iruka gave him a piercing look. “There was the fenc-”

“That was one time and I’m still not apologizing for that.” Kakashi quickly pointed out.

Iruka snickered. “You two will never like each other huh?”

“Not likely.” Kakashi admitted with a shake of his head. “Though I doubt I’ll lash him to a fence post again.”

“That’s a relief.” Iruka dryly countered. “He was pissed for a week.”

“He deserved it.”

Iruka bit his lip upon hearing that.

“Sure it’s no-”

“It wasn’t Mizuki!” Iruka glared.

“Alright.” Kakashi held up his hands in a surrender pose. “If you’re sure.”

With a huff Iruka nodded. “I’m sure.”

“Alright. So if it wasn’t Mizuki, who was it?”

“Why do you think it was a person?”

“Was it an animal?” The Anbu threw back .”Cause that would be new.”

Iruka gave the man a funny look. “Wha-No.” Iruka shook his head.

“I doubt it was a place, buildings can’t really offend people.”

Iruka shook his head. “You’re so weird.”

Kakashi chuckled. “I thought you liked my weird.”

The genin smirked. “Most of the time.”

“Most of it huh? Well that’s better than how the hokage reacts to me.”

Iruka snorted. “I can believe that.”

“Watch it kid.” Kakashi pointed a finger at a smirking Iruka.

Reaching out for his tea once more, Iruka took another drink of his tea to avoid the Anbu’s calculating gaze. Iruka knew that Wolf wanted an answer for why he was up so late, why he was upset. Iruka just didn’t know how to broach the subject with him. Iruka didn’t want to get laughed at, least of all by Wolf. Scowling down into his tea, Iruka jumped when Wolf muttered.

“Ah it was the tea wasn’t it?”

Iruka blinked back at the Anbu. “Tea?”

Kakashi nodded, waving a hand towards the Iruka’s teacup. “The tea offended you, it’s not more of that shit your sensei drinks right?”

Iruka smirked even as he shook his head. “No.”

“Well that’s a relief, there are far nicer ways of torturing oneself.”

“Nicer?”

Kakashi shrugged. “It’s all a matter of perspective.”

Iruka gave a slow nod. “Sure.” Staring back at the Anbu who had been a part of his life for a few years now, Iruka still recognized that he knew so little about Wolf. His odd behaviors were something that Iruka had grown used to, but the man still found ways of surprising him. “Why are you here?”

“Mmm Lost track of time and I wanted to tell you something important.”

Iruka nodded. “Okay and that would be?”

“I doubt you remember, you were so young.” Kakashi teased only to receive a glower from the genin. “But you once asked me about missing nin.”

Iruka gave a slow nod. “I’ve asked a lot of things Wolf.”

“True.” Kakashi conceded to that point. “But this particular time you were being rather persistent and I had to point out some facts about how missing nins work. Namely that they have no connections or ties to their previous village or any family left behind when they defected.”

Iruka gave a nod. “Right.”

“Well I said something along the lines of how they’d betray their own grandmother if it profited them and you asked if that was really true.”

Iruka blushed, he really had grown quite a bit since then. That was a horribly embarrassing question to ask someone, least of all an Anbu. 

Seeing Iruka’s embarrassment, Kakashi chuckled. “Now now, I just came by to tell you that I finally had an answer for you.”

“What?”

Kakashi nodded. “I came across a missing nin on my way home from my mission.”

“Are you okay?!” Iruka lurched forward in his seat, quickly discarding his tea as he rounded to check Wolf for injuries.

Kakashi laughed as he waved a hand at the teen. “I’m fine...The missing nin...Not so much.” With a shrug Kakashi continued. “Anyways, I asked him.”

Iruka blinked. “Wait...You did what?” 

“I asked him.”

“You asked him...About the-”

Kakashi nodded.

“WHY!?” Iruka sputtered. “He was trying to kill you wasn’t he?”

“Yes, that’s what they do Iruka.”  Kakashi chuckled. “It didn’t matter, he wasn’t really all that hard to deal with and I posed the question to him while we were fighting...Seemed to throw him for a loop.”

“I wonder why.” Iruka dryly muttered.

“Aren’t you curious to know what he said?”

“I’m more curious to know if you hit your head.”

“Mean.” Kakashi pointed out with a glare. Iruka smirked back at him as if he hadn’t just implied the Anbu had brain damage. “As I was saying, I asked him what lengths he’d go to turn a profit. Giving his grandmother as an example.”

Iruka groaned. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“His first rebuttal was that his grandmother was dead.”

Iruka snorted.

“So I suggested that we go with the notion that she wasn’t dead, what would his answer be. He was kinda frustrated at that point, but I think that’s mostly because he wasn’t having much luck killing me.”

Iruka shook his head, giving the Anbu an incredulous look. “Seriously? You were asking him about that while he was trying to kill you?!”

“Sure.”

Iruka leaned backwards into his couch. “I can’t believe you.”

“Hmm. You should, I take this very seriously you know.”

“You really don’t.”

Kakashi smirked to himself. “So as I was saying given the hypothetical question he said that he’d even go so far as to throw her rotting corpse at me if I’d just die already.”

Iruka choked on air as he let out a startled laugh, tilting his head to the side to stare at Wolf incredulously. 

Wolf shrugged when he saw the look he was receiving from Iruka. “To which I said that was kinda gross and really disrespectful.”

“Uh huh.” Iruka nodded with a smile. “What’d he have to say about that?”

“He cursed a lot.”

Iruka laughed. “Why did you do that? You know I can’t even recall asking you that.”

Kakashi shrugged. “Seemed important.”

The teen gave the Anbu a glare. “That was a lie.”

“It really wasn’t. Anyways I had a very interesting talk with him w-”

“Just out of curiosity” Iruka interjected before Wolf could go on yet another tangent. “Did he finally just ask you to kill him?”

Kakashi glared. “Rude.” He pointed at the genin.

Iruka smirked. “Sounds like torture to me.” 

The Anbu huffed. “For your information he was very forthcoming with his answers.”

“Was that because he was still trying to kill you?”

“Possibly.”

Iruka shook his head, taking up his tea once more Iruka took another sip of his tea. “Go ahead, I’m listening.”

“Thank you. Now although he was confused as to why I was asking so many questions about his long since dead grandmother, he was actually quite helpful when you come right down to it. He went to great lengths to describe how he would even sell his grandmother's corpse to the nearest peddler if it would make him a coin.”

Iruka made a face at that. “Can you do that?”

Kakashi shrugged. “Don’t know.”

“Still...Ew.”

Kakashi chuckled. “Still it makes my point, missing nin aren’t really in the business of caring about others.”

“Yeah I got that.” Iruka muttered around the lip of his cup.

“He was an entertaining fellow.”

Rolling his eyes, Iruka set the cup aside once more to give his Anbu a pitying look. “Uh huh...I don’t think he found you the same way.”

Kakashi hummed before nodding. “He said that I was infuriating.”

Iruka chuckled. “I bet he did.”

“And that I was like a cockroach.”

“Excuse me?” Iruka laughed.

“I wouldn’t die.”

“Ah.” Iruka nodded. “Makes sense.”

“He on the other hand was not a cockroach...More a spider.”

Iruka made a horrified face. “Please don’t tell me you stepped on him or something like that.”

Kakashi laughed loudly at the horrified teen’s statement. “God no.” He shook his head. “How would I even do that? Oh...Wait, yeah I could do that.”

Iruka grimaced. “Wolf. No.” He shook his head. “Please just no.”

Kakashi grinned beneath his mask. “I’ll figure it out and let you know how it goes.”

“Please don’t. I’m okay with not knowing these things.” The teen muttered with a calculating glare being sent the Anbu’s way. “Some things are better left unsaid.”

“You were the one curious about missing nin.”

“I deeply regret my younger self asking such things. I assure you, I don’t have anymore questions about missing nin.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.” Iruka nodded hastily.  “So you came all the way here, at midnight to tell me about your encounter with a missing nin.”

“Yes.”

“And his grandmother.” Iruka smirked.

“Hypothetical grandmother, she’s dead.”

“Right...I’m assuming he is too?”

“Oh definitely dead...Spider level of dead.” Kakashi nodded.

Iruka sighed. “Wonderful.”

“It kinda is.”

The teen gave the Anbu a bemused look. “You’re sure you’re not hurt?”

Kakashi glanced down at himself as if looking for any nick or cut on himself. “Nope. I’m good.”

Iruka gave a nod. “Right, well thanks for...Finding out the answers to the question I had...Like four years ago and can’t even remember asking.”

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. “You’re welcome.”

Iruka chuckled. “You’re still so weird.”

“I take that as a compliment.”

“I know you do.”

Silence reigned over the living room for a minute or two, until at long last Iruka said with a sigh. “You’re not leaving.”

“Should I?”

“It is midnight.” Iruka pointed out once more.

“True.” Kakashi nodded. “You still haven’t answered my question though.”

“Huh?

“Why are you up?”

Iruka rolled his eyes, rolling to his feet effortlessly to scoop the tea cup up. He headed straight for the kitchen. “Good night Wolf.” He made it as far as the sink before he was caged in by the Anbu. The man’s arms on either side of him, forcing Iruka to be pressed up against the countertop. Sighing Iruka gave the man an imploring look. “This is harassment.” He muttered under his breath.

“Take it up with the hokage.”

Iruka snorted. “I can’t. He’s on your side all the time.”

“Only because I turn out to be right about things.”

“Well you’re not right about this. Move.” Iruka shoved ineffectually at the Anbu standing before him.

Kakashi tilted his head at the small shove. Iruka groaned when it got him nowhere. “Please go away.”

“That’s not a nice way to talk to a friend.”

Iruka glared at the Anbu. “Okay fine. Friend, please go AWAY!”

Kakashi chuckled at the irritated genin. “Mah, come on Iruka w-”

“If you don’t go away right now I will hit you.”

Kakashi shrugged. “Go for it.”

Iruka glared harshly at the Anbu. “Why do you do that?”

“Hmm?”

“Just say to hit you?”

“Probably because I know you won't do it or because I know that even if you do, it won’t hurt me.”

Iruka sighed. “Well that wasn’t horribly emasculating.”

Kakashi chuckled. “Cheer up, at least I’m not liable to fight back if you do hit me.”

“Small mercy.”

“It really is...That missing nin could tell you how much of one it is, well if he wasn’t dead.”

Iruka snorted, laughing under his breath. “Damn it, stop that.”

“Language.”

Iruka groaned. “Wolf.” He whined.

“Iruka.” The Anbu countered in all seriousness.

“It’s late. I’m tired and want to go to bed. So please, let me go.”

Kakashi tilted his head a hair, analyzing the teen before him. Part of him wanted to do as the teen asked, it was clear to see that Iruka was tired. However, the larger part of him wished to know why Iruka was upset because that was clear as day. There was no other reason for Iruka to have stayed up this late if it wasn’t for the sake of his mind overthinking things.

“So, what happened today?”

“I hate you so much.” Iruka groaned even as he leaned forward to rest his forehead against Wolf’s shoulder. 

“You don’t, but I’ll ignore you regardless.”

“Thanks.” Iruka huffed into the man’s armor. “I was so worried about you taking offense.”

“You’re welcome. Now, what’s going on?”

“You refuse to leave and I’m tired.”

Kakashi snorted. “Cute, you know what I mean.”

“I do.”

“But you won’t tell me?”

“Nope.”

Kakashi gave a nod to himself. “Alright then.”

Iruka stumbled when Wolf suddenly stepped back, removing himself from being Iruka’s support. Sighing the genin caught himself just in time, preventing an unsavory meeting with the floor. Glaring at the Anbu just a few feet from him now, Iruka straightened himself out and with a solid nod moved past the Anbu. Intent on going to bed, Iruka ignored the presence following him.

“You’re sure it wasn’t Mizuki.”

Iruka huffed a breathy laugh. “I’m sure.”

“And Kotetsu and Izumo would back you up on that?”

“Why don’t you go ask them.”

Kakashi chuckled. “I would, but I know that’s just your way of getting rid of me and annoying your friends.”

“Damn your onto me.” Iruka sassed as he walked in front of the Anbu.

“Language and yes you didn’t fool me with that lame attempt.”

“I promise I’ll try harder next time.” Iruka groused even as he pulled his shirt over his head, purposely tossing it over his shoulder to hit the Anbu. Kakashi snorted as he caught the article of clothing, sending a scathing look at the teen who was ignoring him.

“Cute.”

Iruka smirked to himself even as he rifled through his dresser for some sleeping pants.

“You realize that I can find out what’s wrong.”

“I’m sure you can, so why don’t you?” Iruka twisted to stare at the Anbu. “Go and do your Anbu sleuthing and leave me in peace.”

Kakashi sighed. “Because I’d rather hear it from you.”

Iruka gave a shrug. “Well I think it’s safe to say that’s not going to happen.” Iruka resumed his search for pants, ignorant of Kakashi creeping closer to him. With a loud yelp, Iruka found himself flat on his back. Wolf looming above him with a glare pointed at the teen who he had suppressed with the weight of his body and the use of his hand clamping the teens wrists into a single hand. The other pointed at Iruka.

“Tell me what’s wrong.”

Iruka huffed. “Really? You’re putting me in a body bind to get me to talk?”

“Works on missing nin.”

Iruka arched a brow and in a challenging voice replied. “My grandmother’s dead.” He smirked saucily. “And to be fair I probably would sell her to the highest bidder.”

Kakashi chuckled. “Nice.” The Anbu shook his head. “You’re no missing nin, family issues aside I doubt you’d sell anyone out.”

Iruka shrugged. “You never know, I could sell you out to the others.”

“Go for it.”

“Damn...Why do you keep doing that?!”

“Language.” Kakashi bit out sharper. “And if you’re referring to me calling your bluff, it’s because I know when you’re lying. One because your really bad at it and two because I can.”

Iruka glared up at the Anbu, struggling in the hold only to huff when it did him no good. Kakashi rolled his eyes. “That was pointless.”

“Bite me.”

Kakashi snorted. “Can’t, I’m wearing a mask. Maybe ask Izumo.”

Iruka couldn’t hold back a bark of laughter. “Really?”

Kakashi shrugged. “Sure why not?”

“You know he outgrew that.”

“Never know, some people hold onto traits like that.”

“Meaning?” Iruka smirked.

“Could be something he does in bed.”

Iruka grimaced. “Oh god Wolf! Shut up!” Iruka struggled against the Anbu’s hold, depserate to get away from the man and the horrible insinuations he had on his friend.

Laughing at the horrified look on Iruka’s face, Kakashi shook his head. “You’re too easy kid, now if you don’t want any other horrifying realizations about your friends possible sexual activities you should probably tell me what’s wrong.”

“That’s sick and wrong.”

“Everyone has their kinks.”

Iruka stared back at him in confusion before snorting. “I meant you saying that, not...Ugh just forget it. Let me up.” Iruka thrashed against the Anbu, trying to use the moves his makeshift family had taught him. It didn’t do much good against Wolf, though Iruka was able to shift some of the man’s weight it wasn’t enough to have him unseated. Panting at the expenditure of energy, Iruka glared at his Anbu.

“Done?” Kakashi questioned. “As fun as that was, I think we can speed this entire affair up if you just tell me what’s wrong. I’ll even forgive you if you were lying.”

“About what?” Iruka groused.

“If it wa-”

“IT WASN’T MIZUKI!!!”

Kakashi winced at the teen’s shouting. “Right. My bad.”

Iruka glared daggers at the somewhat repentant Anbu, Kakashi sighed. “You have to give me something here kid, I can’t help if you don’t-”

“I don’t need any help Wolf. I’m fine.”

“Are you?” The Anbu shot back quizzically.

“I’m...” Iruka sighed. “I’ll be alright, there’s nothing wrong with me alright.”

“Meaning you aren’t alright right now.”

The glare returned making Kakashi sigh. “Give me something to work with.”

Iruka arched his head backwards into the floor, closing his eyes even as he muttered. “Why can’t you just let it go?”

“Because whatever ‘it’ is, it’s upsetting you.”

“You’re upsetting me.”

Kakashi chuckled. “Probably, but not like whatever has been keeping you up till midnight.”

“You kept me up past midnight.” Iruka pointed out bluntly.

“Iruka.” Kakashi sighed.

The teen huffed. Taking a deep breath, Iruka quietly admitted. “Sensei wants us to try for chunin again.”

Kakashi blinked. Blinked again. And finally blinked again.

“You’re stressing about taking the exam again?”

“Yeah.” Iruka huffed.

Kakashi smirked beneath his mask. “You do realize that it’s not to take place until spring, you’ve got a few months to prepare.”

“Didn’t help last time.” Iruka pointed out, opening his eyes to stare up at the Anbu.

Kakashi shrugged. “You were barely a genin back then.”

“I’m a genin now.”

Kakashi glared. “You’re a genin now because you haven’t passed the exam, but you aren’t a ‘genin’.”

“That makes no sense.”

Kakashi chuckled. “Trust me, it does. You’ll do fine.”

“That’s what you said last time.”

Kakashi hummed. “Fair enough, but this time you have more experience. You know what to expect.”

“The exam changes every year.” Iruka countered.

“Does your sensei stick with the same training regime every week?”

Iruka couldn’t help but snort, his sensei  was nothing if not unpredictable. “No.”

Kakashi gave a nod. “Then this shouldn’t be any harder than dealing with those sudden changes, you can think on your feet Iruka.”

The teen sighed. “I’m not even sure if I feel ready for this, maybe it’d be best for me to wa-”

“No.” Kakashi shook his head. “You’re not waiting, waiting just means that you’ll never get the courage up to retake the test. If your sensei is backing you for the test you’re taking it.”

“Thought it was my choice.” Iruka grumbled.

“Well then you’d be wrong.”

Iruka rolled his eyes. “Cute.”

“I try.” Kakashi released the teen’s wrists, sitting back across the boys hips as he pointed out. “Besides the first time you took the test you wouldn’t have been able to move me an inch, you got me to shift to one side this time.”

“Whoopee.” Iruka droned even as he sat up. Kakashi sighed even as he came to sit on the floor in front of Iruka. “I’m going to say something...I’d like for it not to end with you yelling.”

Iruka frowned. “Okay.”

“Did Mizuki say something about you re-taking the test?”

Iruka glared.

“I’m just asking, if this is all just nerves then fine.” Kakashi nodded. “I just know that he gave you shit last time.”

Iruka huffed. “He doesn’t know yet, I haven’t even told Kotetsu or Izumo.”

“Fine.” Kakashi nodded. “Just wanted to make sure.”

Iruka rolled his eyes. “You just wanted to know if you needed to scare the crap out of him again.”

Kakashi blinked.

“You’re not innocent you know.” Iruka ground out. “I know when you do stuff.”

Kakashi laughed. “You do huh?”

Iruka smirked. “Yeah, because Hawk tells me.”

“Traitor.”

Iruka laughed. “Hey you do it to him, you’re always ratting him out to Himiko and Raccoon.”

“That’s beside the point.” Kakashi waved a hand at Iruka. “He deserves it.”

Iruka raised a brow. “Really?”

Kakashi nodded.

“Why?”

Silence.

Sighing Iruka shook his head before staring down into his lap. “You’re impossible.”

“Iruka.”

“Hmm?” The teen looked back up.

“I’ll help you train.”

Iruka smirked. “You did that last time.”

“True.” Kakashi nodded. “But this time I won’t hold back.”

Iruka laughed. “That was you holding back?”

“A little.” The Anbu held up his thumb and forefinger, showing how ‘little’ he’d held back.

Iruka rolled his eyes. “Liar.”

The Anbu chuckled back at the teen. “You’ll do fine and like I said the tests still a few months off. Plenty of time to brush up on how to kick another shinobi’s ass.”

Iruka smirked. “Language.”

“Kid don’t test me.” Kakashi pointed a finger at the genin who was smirking in that cocky way.

“You know that this is going to suck right? Retaking that test is just going to be-”

“It is what it is kid, you’ve got to take it if you want to be chunin. You still want to be chunin right?”

Iruka snorted. “Just a little bit.” He copied the Anbu’s earlier move and showed with his fingers how much he wanted to be chunin.

Kakashi chuckled at the kid’s sarcasm. “Good. Then we’ll figure out how to get you ready for it.”

Iruka hummed. “That doesn’t mean you get to threaten Mizuki if he’s a dick.” Iruka quickly laid down the law on that particular issue.

“Are you sure?” Kakashi tilted his head. “Because I think that falls under emotional support.”

“I think that falls under bullshit.”

Kakashi smirked. “I reserve the right to shut him up, IF he says something.”

Iruka gave the Anbu a skeptical look. “Only if he says something IN your presence. No second hand vigilante stuff.”

Kakashi sighed. “Fine.”

Iruka smirked. “Can I go to bed now?”

Kakashi blinked, laughed and then nodded. “Sure.” Rising to their feet the two shinobi stood before one another. Kakashi scratched the back of his head. “Sorry about the late visit.”

Iruka snorted. “It was important, it’s not everyday that you learn about missing nin’s grandmothers.”

Kakashi chuckled. “You’re so cheeky, what happened to that star eyed little brat I found tied to a tree?”

Iruka snorted. “He got hit in the head to many times, you’re stuck with me.”

“You only got hit in the head a few times, it’s not like you lost any brain matter.”

Iruka grimaced. “Okay, goodnight.” Iruka muttered abruptly, twisting about Iruka headed for his bed sleeping pants in tow.

Kakashi chuckled. “I’ll see you later.”

Iruka waved a hand up in the air. “Sure, preferably when the sun’s up and I can properly appreciate the wisdom you’ve granted me.”

Kakashi shook his head. “So cheeky.” Kakashi disappeared in a flash of smoke, leaving Iruka sitting on the edge of his bed. Sighing Iruka groaned as he fell backwards onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“It might have been easier to just blame Mizuki, he would have left a lot faster then.” Throwing an arm over his eyes to block out the world, Iruka huffed. “Who the hell actually asks a missing nin about their grandmother?” Iruka laughed to himself.

 


End file.
